Wagon-tongue support



(No Model.)

P. DITTMAN. -WAGON TONGUE SUPPORT.

Patented D55. 3, 1895 l nu'sni'ur UNTTE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PETER -DITTMAN, OF MARSEILLES, ILLINOIS.

WAGON-TONGUE SUPPORT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 550,748, dated December3,1895.

Application filed August 5, 1895.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, PETER DITTMAN, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Marseilles, in the county of La Salle and State ofIllinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inWVagon-Tongue Supports, of which the following is a specification,reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings and the lettersof reference thereon, forming a part of this specification, in whichFigure 1 is a perspective view of the tonguesupport as it would appearattached to a wagon, and Fig. 2 is a side view of the lever of thedevice for elevating and lowering the outer end of the wagon-tongue.

This invention relates to certain improvements in tonguesupports forwagon-tongues, which improvements are fully set forth and explained inthe following specification and claims.

Referring to the drawings, R represents the wagon-tongue to besupported, and A repre sents the front end-board of a wagon-box.

H represents a coil-spring having a short chain J attached to its outerend, and the outer end of said chain is attached to the wagon-tongue bymeans of a staple K. The inner end of said coil-spring has attached toit a short chain P, having a clevis L attached to its inner end providedwith a grooved roller G, adapted to travel laterally on a rail F,secured to the end-board A of a wagon-box.

B is a hooked lever forming a link in the chain P. The inner hooked endof said lever is hooked into a link of said chain, while the arm of saidlever passes through the next adjacent link in such manner as to slidetherein from the position shown in Fig. 2 to that shown in Fig. 1.

O is a short chain attached to the outer end of lever B B, having a hookD on its outer end, so that when the said lever is in the position shownin Fig. 1 said chain C may be passed around the standard S on the upperedge of the end-board and hooked back upon itself, so as to givesufficient tension to the device and support the outer end of thetongue. A cord E is attached to the outer end of chain 0 for the purposeof retaining control of said chain and its lever when the Serial No.558,209. (No model.)

said chain is released from standard S and the lever B let down to theposition shown in Fig. 2, the driver retaining hold of said cord inorder to pull up said lever to its first position. (Shown in Fig. 1.)

The lever B is formed so as to have a bend V near its outer end forminga hook to hook into the link on that end of the chain P, and the part ofsaid lever between said bend V and its outer end forms an extension B ofthe lever for the purpose of obtaining greater purchase on the lever inorder to raise it up to the position shown in Fig. 1. The said lever isthus used so as to relieve the tonguesupport from supporting the outerend of the tongue when the wagon is not in use and when no team isattached to the wagon, in which case the lever is let down, as shown inFig. 2, so that the outer end of the tongue will rest on the ground; butwhen a team is attached and it is desirable to relieve the necks of theteam from supporting the tongue the lever is turned up and secured tothe position shown in Fig. 1, when the weight of the outer end of thetongue is taken off the team and held by the tongue-support. Themovement of the grooved roller on the said rail F permits lateralmovement of the tongue in either direction. When the wagon is driven ona dumping-platform at a warehouse to dump its load of grain, it isdesirable to lengthen out the tongue-support by means of letting downsaid lever, so as to not lift the outer end of the tongue up too high atthe time the rear end of the wagon is lowered in order to dump its load.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. The wagon tongue support comprising the combination of the coilspring H, chain J for connecting the outer end of said spring to thewagon tongue, chain P for connecting the inner end of said spring with alever formgrooved roller G on its outer end opposite said spring, rail Fsecured to the end board of a wagon box, and adapted to carry saidroller, hooked lever B B having the hooked bend V and forming a sectionor link of chain P, and having chain 0 attached to its outer ing one ofits link sections, and having the 10 ing its end connected With saidchain formed like a hook and having the extremity of its hooked endconnected With a link of the chain, and having its free end passedthrough the opposite link of said chain and adapted to slide therein,substantially as and for the I 5 purpose set forth.

PETER DITTMAN. Witnesses E. M. DAY, GEO. H. RODERICK.

